LOWELL -- Lowell Police Superintendent William Taylor was excused from the Lt. Thomas Siopes termination hearing Friday on a day when Siopes' attorneys say Taylor would be asked to explain why white correction fluid was used on a key document in the case.

After three days of being questioned on the police department's holding cell policies and procedures in the wake of the 2013 death of Alyssa Brame while in a police holding cell, Taylor was excused from the hearing on Friday.

When reached by phone, Taylor said he has spent days focused exclusively on the Siopes' termination hearing, but with the annual three-day Lowell Folk Festival that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors he needed to focus on normal public safety issues to ensure everything runs smoothly this weekend.

When the hearing suspended Thursday afternoon, attorney Peter Perroni, representing Siopes, demanded to see the original policy and procedure documents, and one that indicated a document had been disseminated to officers and another where "never issued" was covered up by correction fluid.

Perroni said questioning Taylor about the documents is key to Siopes' case. Siopes is accused of not following departmental policies and procedures, including what is required in the holding cell, in the handling of Brame. Perroni argues, but the city denies, that policies and procedures were not disseminated to officers.

City solicitor Christine O'Connor said on Friday that when Taylor testifies again he can be asked about how these documents are maintained and "who whited anything out.

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Siopes was the officer in charge on the night of Jan. 13, 2013, when a highly-intoxicated Alyssa Brame, 31, was carried into a Lowell Police holding cell. No one checked on her status for 66 minutes during which time she became unconscious. and stopped breathing. She died of alcohol poisoning.

A damaging video shows Brame, who was arrested for solicitation, being carried into the police station and placed in a holding cell.

In February a three-member Board of Inquiry found that Siopes, Lt. Mike Kilmartin, Sgt. James Fay, Sgt. Frank Nobrega and Sgt. Mike Guiffrida violated department policies in their handling of Brame. All but Siopes accepted departmental punishments in exchange for foregoing the appeal hearing.

The termination hearing is in hold until Aug. 19 when Taylor is expected to resume his testimony.